Residency?

[lilnoelle]

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I was wondering if any M4 students were having trouble getting matched in their residency field of choice. I am going to be an M1 next year and am trying to decide what school to go to. I really like OMM and love the osteopathic school where I've been accepted but I also believe I will be accepted to one allopathic school as well. Most likely I will end up going into primary care but there is a chance that I will want to do reconstructive surgery. I REALLY like the osteopathic school and want to go there (it seems to be a better fit for me in many ways) but I'd feel a lot better about withdrawing from the allopathic school if I had good confidence it wouldn't be more difficult to get into a surgical residency coming out of an osteopathic school. What are your thoughts? Thank you SO much.

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

obviously the MD is going to have a better chance getting into the MD residency than the DO student.


But thats assuming two identical people with two identical board scores, LORs, etc.


IN other words, it more or less comes down to the amount of effort you put into it. Just because you went to an MD school and did average doesn't mean you get to walk into competitive specialties.

 

[OMMFellow06]

You're basing this decision on the chance that you will decide to go into surgery and that makes it really difficult. Just so you know, the majority of people who go into medical school thinking that they will do a certain, will change their minds when it comes time to apply and rank. So many years and so many changes can occur in 3 years, that you can never know what your feeling will be about surgery when the time comes to apply.

For me, I can honestly say that going to a DO school was the best thing that I could have done. If I had gone to an MD school I would have done fine, but the only thing that I found I had a passion for was using OMM. Thus, I did the OMM fellowship, which is spending an extra year teaching to first and second year students and doing OMM at our school's clinic with one on one training from attendings. I chose to go into Physical Medicine and Rehabilitiation so I was looked upon more highly than some b/c of my prowess for OMM.

As Buckeye(OH) said, if you work hard enough, you can get any spot you want, but it is true, SOME fields will accept an MD before a DO with the exact same stats.

If you feel that the DO school is the right fit, then that may be your indication for choosing that over the MD school. The decision is ultimately yours so take what all of us say here on this forum with a grain of salt.

 

[Idiopathic]

Personally, I cant stand OMT. I equate it with family practice, radiology, surgery, etc. And some of those things just arent for me.

However, I respect its use and do belive it has value (like the other dx/rx modalities). But if I hadnt moved back home, gone to the (local) DO school, then I likely wouldnt have had the great experience or the support system, and I probably wouldnt have found the perfect residency for me and matched at my #1 choice.

 

[beeda]

You're basing this decision on the chance that you will decide to go into surgery and that makes it really difficult. Just so you know, the majority of people who go into medical school thinking that they will do a certain, will change their minds when it comes time to apply and rank. So many years and so many changes can occur in 3 years, that you can never know what your feeling will be about surgery when the time comes to apply.

For me, I can honestly say that going to a DO school was the best thing that I could have done. If I had gone to an MD school I would have done fine, but the only thing that I found I had a passion for was using OMM. Thus, I did the OMM fellowship, which is spending an extra year teaching to first and second year students and doing OMM at our school's clinic with one on one training from attendings. I chose to go into Physical Medicine and Rehabilitiation so I was looked upon more highly than some b/c of my prowess for OMM.

As Buckeye(OH) said, if you work hard enough, you can get any spot you want, but it is true, SOME fields will accept an MD before a DO with the exact same stats.

If you feel that the DO school is the right fit, then that may be your indication for choosing that over the MD school. The decision is ultimately yours so take what all of us say here on this forum with a grain of salt.

I agree with the above - basing your decision on what you think you MIGHT want to do makes life very difficult. When I started med school, I had never heard of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitiation. I was dead set on FP, and also wanted to do a little ER in a rural community hospital. When a 3rd year student told me about PM&R (he was moving out to start clinical rotations, and I was moving into his house to start my 1st year), I thought that it was something I would NEVER want to do. Almost five years later I have also done an OMM fellowship, and am very excited to have matched to a PM&R program starting in '07.

Like it was mentioned above, the decision is ultimately yours. If your gut tells you to go to a DO school, I'd think about it pretty strongly. On the other hand, if you definitely want to do reconstructive surgery, I'd strongly suggest MD school. As a DO you'll never get into a plastics residency.

 

[medhacker]

As a DO you'll never get into a plastics residency.

You might want to leave that part out - it is total speculation...

 

[cyclohexanol]

Originally Posted by beeda
As a DO you'll never get into a plastics residency.

You might want to leave that part out - it is total speculation...

Agree with medhacker. In fact, there are plenty of DOs in plastics (just watch Plastic Surgery: Before and After on discovery health). Many of the ones I have seen are revision specialists, who spend their lives fixing what other doctors have f***ed up, which seems to me to be more difficult than other types of plastics, and would be even more specialized (but I am just speculating here).

So... do what you want. If you're a superstar, it'll happen; even if it is sometimes more difficult for X person to land Y residency with Z credentials. Don't pay any attention to posts with broad generalizations like the one above.

👍

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

I agree with the above - basing your decision on what you think you MIGHT want to do makes life very difficult. When I started med school, I had never heard of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitiation. I was dead set on FP, and also wanted to do a little ER in a rural community hospital. When a 3rd year student told me about PM&R (he was moving out to start clinical rotations, and I was moving into his house to start my 1st year), I thought that it was something I would NEVER want to do. Almost five years later I have also done an OMM fellowship, and am very excited to have matched to a PM&R program starting in '07.

Like it was mentioned above, the decision is ultimately yours. If your gut tells you to go to a DO school, I'd think about it pretty strongly. On the other hand, if you definitely want to do reconstructive surgery, I'd strongly suggest MD school. As a DO you'll never get into a plastics residency.

Wrong.

http://www.facos.org/ScriptContent/educationsites.cfm?section=education#plastic

 

[beeda]

Wrong.

True. My comment was born of conversations with other students that I know that wanted to do plastics years ago. After further research I stand corrected.

 

[LovelyRita]

Looking back (never a healthy thing to do, except to maybe help those following you), this past year was difficult. Taking 2 sets of boards. Having only enough money and time to explore and interview at a medium number of DO programs AND MD programs versus a large number of one or the other.

Plus, being at a DO school where I don't have the benefit of my dean's office and registrar's office locally. I made most of my plans and decisions on my own, with little mentorship from my school.

It's been loaded with uncertainty to me, and many MD program directors and their administrative assistants are shocked and feel bad about how DO students have to (if they choose, btw) to jump through extra hoops. Plus, the fact that we have to do one match or the other is even more brutal.

I spent enough time living in a dream that fell through. There could be many reasons, but I have to say there was a limbo-esque sensation to it all.

 

[raidermedic]

Don't believe everything that is posted on this board. That includes the posts saying "yeah you can do anything you set your mind to" and "the it's impossible to match as a DO!." Find an actual 4th year or recent grad with no agenda and ask them point blank about it. Pretty much every pre osteo, first or second year is going to tell you that you can match in anything. And if you come across a bitter 3rd or 4th year they will tell you it is impossible to match in anything. Call up the DO school you got accepted to and ask for the emails of some 4th years. Ask them (the 4th years not the school) how their class did in the match and how many got into ACGME surgery. Ask if a lot of students had to change their minds about surgery or not. And for those that matched into ACGME surgery what kind of students they were. Were they outstanding students with years of research, just an average student who was pleasent to work with, or were they a ******* who's dad wrote a check to the program for "a new lounge." . Also see if you can get the match list from the school. Then do the same for the MD school. Then make your decision.

 

[LovelyRita]

Don't believe everything that is posted on this board. That includes the posts saying "yeah you can do anything you set your mind to" and "the it's impossible to match as a DO!." Find an actual 4th year or recent grad with no agenda and ask them point blank about it. Pretty much every pre osteo, first or second year is going to tell you that you can match in anything. And if you come across a bitter 3rd or 4th year they will tell you it is impossible to match in anything. Call up the DO school you got accepted to and ask for the emails of some 4th years. Ask them (the 4th years not the school) how their class did in the match and how many got into ACGME surgery. Ask if a lot of students had to change their minds about surgery or not. And for those that matched into ACGME surgery what kind of students they were. Were they outstanding students with years of research, just an average student who was pleasent to work with, or were they a ******* who's dad wrote a check to the program for "a new lounge." . Also see if you can get the match list from the school. Then do the same for the MD school. Then make your decision.

👍 excellent excellent advice